How much paper and ink does your company use every week? Every month? Every year? More importantly, how much does this wind up costing your company in the long run? According to a study by 14 year-old science fair wiz Suvir Mirchandani, it was discovered that his Pittsburgh-area school district could reduce ink consumption by 24 percent and save an average of $21,000 a year by simply switching fonts. That’s half of what the average American’s annual salary is!

It’s the subtile difference between…

and

…that could make all the difference.

The first text is Times New Roman, the most widely used font, while the second is Garamond. It looks thinner, and takes up less space on the page, which results in savings in both ink and paper!

Mirchandani also applied his findings to the federal government, discovering that they could reduce ink consumption by 30 percent and save nearly $136 million dollars each year. Additionally, another $234 million could potentially be saved by having state governments switch their fonts to Garamond. However, the government doesn’t seem all that interested in switching typefaces, and will just concentrate on printing less documents and recycling paper.

Mirchandani’s research does bring up an interesting point, though. How much do you think your company could save by switching fonts? You might not be willing to make such a drastic change, but there are other ways you can save money and ink.

Think About the Note Card
In high school or college, some teachers would let you bring an index card full of notes to a test or exam. Remember trying to cram as much stuff on there as possible? The same thing can help you in the business world. We don’t mean to shrink your text to a miniscule size. Instead, you can print on both the front and the back of the page. You can also print multiple PowerPoint slides on each page, and use the “shrink to fit” option for Excel spreadsheets. Directive can assist you with locating and utilizing these features.

Make a “No Print” Day
If your employees can’t sate their hunger for printing, you can just take away the printers altogether. If some people are printing too much, you can ban their access to the printers. Or, if you’re feeling daring, ban your printers altogether for a day or two a week. This will make people realize that they really don’t need the printers as much as they think they do, and will hopefully inspire them to use more conventional means of sharing cat photos or silly memes.

Who knows? Maybe you’ll realize that you don’t need the printers altogether, and that could lead to even further savings.

Upgrade to a Print Server
A print server solution from Directive can automatically enforce money-saving print settings with certain users, making it so that only the employees that need to print in expensive color will have the capability. A printer server will also give you the option so that every black and white page will automatically print in grayscale.

Stop Printing!
Every tree is a weeping willow when it comes to printing unnecessary pages. One of the most basic things you can do to cut down on printing costs is to stop printing so many pages. If you have something you want to share with the rest of your company, send an email instead. It’s far more economical, for both your company and the environment.

That being said, there is literally no reason to print out a majority of the paper you are printing out. A common trend among today’s business industry is going paperless. Not only is it much easier than sifting through file cabinets every day, it’s much easier on your budget and your bottom line. Michell Consulting Group can assist you with making your company a paperless one. We’ll keep both your wallet and the environment teeming with green!